Having won the French presidency. Emmanuel Macron is about to deliver Theresa May a big lesson. Whereas May completely humiliated herself and the Tories, Macron will go from zero members in parliament to being its largest party so he can implement his legislative agenda.
France goes back to the polls today.
There are nearly 8,000 candidates standing for election for the 577 seats in parliament. Like the presidential election, there are two rounds. If no candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the votes in his or her constituency, then the top two face off in the second round on June 18.
According to the latest opinion polls, Macron’s party is set to become France’s biggest and is expected to win the most votes with Macron also scoring well in terms of general popularity.
The centre-right Republican party is set to lose half of its seats to about 100. The group of left-wing parties is predicted to go from 284 seats to as few as 20 or 30. The National Front is predicted to win between five and 15 seats.
Macron has promised to shake up France’s political system. So far is sticking to this plan. He said that half the party’s candidates would come from civil society and not have held political office before, and half would be women. The party’s 428 candidates fit these criteria and include students, retirees, the unemployed, business leaders, and civil servants. He has also recruited a bullfighter and famous mathematician and a celebrity environmentalist
Macron has shown it’s possible to reinvigorate a nation’s political system and sideline the establishment parties. It’s a model for the rest of the world11
